Dad’s Westcoast Awesome Sauces…

… they’re not East Indian. Not Thai. Not Mexican. Just awesome!

It all started when I, Liz Newton, created THE PERFECT HOT SAUCE for my husband Jon, otherwise known as Dad. Jon was always looking for the right combination of heat and flavour and our fridge was always full of different bottles of hot stuff as Jon tried this and that. Now Dad’s Westcoast Wildfire Awesome Sauce reigns supreme .

It was so good we decided to start selling it at Government Street and Moss Street Markets in Victoria in the summer of 2010 and it was very well received.

And, in the three years since, the Dad’s Westcoast line of hot sauces has grown to five.

All five are awesomely delicious fusions of fresh peppers, ripe plum and sun-dried tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, fresh and dried garlic, onions and ginger, and different selections of hand-ground herbs and spices. Free of artificial ‘flavours’ or preservatives, they’re also free of wheat* and soy and contain no dairy or meat ingredients, making them suitable for vegetarians and vegans alike.

Prepared and cooked in the Cowichan Valley, from recipes formulated from scratch by moi, they’re as fresh and healthy as we could make them. We source as many ingredients as we can locally and work with island and mainland farmers to grow our peppers.

And, although our company name makes no mention of it, we also have a selection of wonderfully tasty spices mixes, all of which are made from fresh-ground spices.

The first one was our Westcoast AwesomeMeat Rub.
Its full flavour does not rely on MSG to satisfy your taste buds and it has less salt than the average spice mix. While it’s perfectly suited to fish and poultry – our daughter loves it on her grilled chicken – our customers also like it on venison and other red meats. Vegetarians and vegans might like it in soups, stews, sprinkled on a plain potato salad or used as a marinade for tofu.

In the summer of 2012, we introduced our Westcoast Awesome HOTMeat Rub, and at Christmas we started selling our East Indian and our West Indies Spice Mixes. You’ll find us this summer at various markets with all four of our spice mixes. And, they’re all sold at the Cowichan Bay Collective in lovely Cow Bay; at the Farm Store at Merridale Ciderworks; and, in Victoria, by Lifestyles on Douglas and the Market on Millstream.

Check here for more information about our Awesome Spices Mixes and for some ideas on how to use them..

* We don’t put wheat, or gluten, in our products – in fact, we chose early on to limit the off-the-shelf ingredients and to hand-grind most of our spices so as to eliminate the fillers and binders which are used in the spice business. That said, we don’t use a gluten free kitchen right now.

We also have gone out of our way to source spices which have not had sulphites – or other preservatives – added to them, and our sun-dried tomatoes are preserved with sea salt.

P.S. When I get some time, I’ll try to figure out how to indicate what selection of our products various stores carry.

Some recipes for Shakshuka have ‘Harissa’ in them, which is a blended mixture of chilis, garlic, and spices. The recipe in the link above does not call for harissa, but I enocurage you to give it a go…you will not be disappointed! Take care

I would like to say how well you awesomeness compliments my own, especially with my culinary arts. However, I have a conundrum in that I do not live on Vancouver Island but rather in Vancouver.

I am wondering if your awesomeness has managed to spread over to any fine retail establishments here in Vancouver so that further merging of my awesomeness and the awesomeness of your sauces my continue in the future.